Mobile Legal Counsel System and Method

ABSTRACT

A Mobile Lawyer system includes a 360 degree HD video camera configured for mounting on a vehicle; a display screen configured for mounting inside the passenger compartment of a vehicle; and a Mobile Lawyer App downloaded and installed on a mobile telephone in communication with the video camera and display screen, configured, upon command from a user, to notify an attorney located remotely via a cellular and/or computer network, and to display a video image of the remote attorney on the display screen (or the screen of the mobile telephone), and to live-stream a 360 degree video captured by the video camera to the Internet for viewing by the remote attorney and for cloud storage. The introduction of a lawyer on-demand into a police encounter can help to defuse and de-escalate the situation. The lawyer can serve as a live observer, witness, and intermediary who can provide live legal guidance to the user.

RELATED APPLICATION

This is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/688,764 filedAug. 28, 2017, which is a Continuation-in-Part application of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/644,524 filed Jul. 7, 2017, which claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/364,300 filed onJul. 19, 2016, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entirety.

FIELD

This disclosure relates to mobile software applications, and moreparticularly to a mobile legal counsel system and method, so that anattorney can be summoned quickly and virtually whenever a need arises toserve as a third-party observer, help defuse the situation, runinterference, and provide legal advice.

BACKGROUND

According to a U.S. Department of Justice Special Report, in 2011, over62.9 million U.S. residents had one or more contacts with police. Ofthese contacts, over 31 million were involuntary, and 13 million are inthe context of traffic stops. Relatively more black drivers (13%) thanwhite (10%) and Hispanic (10%) drivers were pulled over in a trafficstop. In these traffic stop incidents, about 1.2 million people feltthat the police officer involved did not behave properly. However, onlya small fraction, or 4.4% of these people filed a police complaint, andmore than 1.1 million people did not. About 19% of persons involved instreet stops were searched or frisked by police. The majority of thesepeople did not believe the police had a legitimate reason for thesearch.

According to data compiled by The Washington Post, white people make uproughly 62 percent of the U.S. population but only about 49 percent ofthose who are killed by police officers. African Americans, however,account for 24 percent of those fatally shot and killed by the policedespite being just 13 percent of the U.S. population. These numbers meanblack Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shotand killed by police officers. U.S. police officers have shot and killedthe exact same number of unarmed white people as they have unarmed blackpeople: 50 each. But because the white population is approximately fivetimes larger than the black population, unarmed black Americans werefive times as likely as unarmed white Americans to be shot and killed bya police officer.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more--white-people-than-black-people-killed-by-police-yes-but-no/?utmterm=.71a68e6da5fe

Some argue that police shooting is racially-based, but there areevidence that show these police officers who commit these atrocities maybe motivated by unconscious or implicit bias. There are research studiesthat support the notion that police professionals use more force, or bequicker to use force, against blacks due to a black-crime implicit biasproducing greater perceptions of threat. Studies also support thatimplicit bias, once recognized, can be counteracted with repeated andintentional training and learning. However, implicit or explicit, theresult is still the same—loss of innocent lives.

Whether white or black, implicit or explicit bias, there is a desire todefuse and de-escalate tense situations between the police and membersof the general public if the loss of innocent lives can be avoided orreduced.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a systemand method for mobile legal counsel according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a simplified flowchart of a system and method for mobile legalcounsel according to the teachings of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 3 is another simplified flowchart of a system and method for mobilelegal counsel according to the teachings of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For many African Americans living in the United States, the threat ofpolice brutality and shooting is an everyday reality. Black parents have“The Talk” with their children not of the birds and the bees, but howthey must be obedient and compliant whenever they encounter the police.

Police brutality and killing is a deeply-rooted problem that cannot beeasily and quickly addressed without multi-pronged persistent efforts.The concept described herein is an effort to introduce technology as oneimmediate solution to this problem. This concept uses technology tointroduce the presence of a third party, a licensed attorney, into apolice encounter. The licensed attorney can serve as a live observer,witness, and intermediary who can help to de-escalate and defuse thesituation.

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a systemand method for mobile legal counsel 10 according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure. The system 10 includes a 360-degree video camera 12that can live-stream 360 degrees of video data with accompanying audiodata over the Internet and/or cellular network 14. The 360-degree camera12 is preferably high definition and designed for mounting on the dashof a vehicle so that it can capture unobstructed video images of a userseated in the driver's seat as well as the front passenger seat of thevehicle. An example of such a camera is a 1080p sports action camera,Chinavasion product code CVLM-DV141. Alternatively, the 360-degreecamera may be mountable to the user's mobile device itself, and utilizeits cellular and Internet connectivity to live stream video data. Inanother alternate embodiment, a mobile device that has a built-in360-degree camera can be employed. In an alternate embodiment, the360-degree camera 12 is joined by additional video cameras mounted atdifferent points of the user's car, inside and/or outside the passengercompartment, to capture video footage from various vantage points toavoid obstacles that may block the view, such as some parts of the caror passengers in the car. The mobile lawyer app may incorporate imagescaptured by OEM cameras on the vehicle. In yet another embodiment, adrone-based video camera 28 can be used to augment the live-streamedvideo data from an overhead vantage point. It is contemplated that thedrone can be remotely controlled by either the user, a remoteadministrator, or the remote lawyer. Additionally, the remoteadministrator and/or lawyer may also be able to remotely control one ormore other video cameras mounted inside and/or outside the passengercompartment. One or more of these cameras may additionally have infraredcapability to capture clear images in low ambient light conditions.

In certain applications, the mobile lawyer app may employ video imagescaptured by cameras native on a mobile device, such as the front andback-facing cameras on a mobile telephone. For example, if the mobilelawyer app is initiated and it detects that an externally-mounted360-degree camera is not available, then it may automatically initiateoperation of the built-in cameras.

All of the captured live-stream video data (including audio) aretransmitted (using cellular/Internet connectivity of the mobile device,the camera, or the vehicle) via a global computer network (Internet)and/or cellular mobile telephone network 14 to a remote server 16 andstored in a database 18, preferably encrypted to ensure privacy. Thedatabase 18 further stores the identities, credentials, states wherelicensed, contact information (e.g., address, email address, and mobiletelephone number), and other information of lawyers licensed in variousjurisdictions who have been vetted and contracted to be on call duringcertain days, time periods, and other work parameters to provide mobilelawyer services. The system 10 further includes a dash-mounted displaymonitor 20 such as the seven-inch LCD display, Chinavasion product codeCVABR-LT298. A user may download and install the Mobile Lawyer App 22onto his mobile phone 24 or another mobile device, such as a wearabledevice, for example. The video camera 12 and display screen 20 maydirectly communicate wireless to the server 16 and database 18 via theInternet/cellular network or via the mobile device 24. It iscontemplated that the drone may be controlled by administrators or otheremployees of the mobile lawyer service and/or the remote lawyer.

In operation, the user may initialize the Mobile Lawyer App 22 bysetting up a profile with the name, address, phone number, age, sex,race, emergency contact, medical information, and other basicinformation. The user may become a subscriber by agreeing to makemonthly subscription payments to retain the services provided via theMobile Lawyer App 22. There may be multi-tiered services available tiedto different subscription payment amounts. For example, the user mayenter into an agreement to pay $9.99 per month for the basic servicelevel and $29.99 per month for a premium service level. The servicelevels may differ in the amount of coverage in terms of, e.g., hours andjurisdiction. Once becoming a subscriber, the user is issued one or morestickers or decals that can be displayed on the vehicle (on the bumper,in the rear window, in the driver side window, etc.) to clearly mark andidentify the user/driver as one that is protected by the Mobile LawyerApp 22.

The user may initiate a Mobile Lawyer Consultation Session andlive-stream video capture by the camera(s) by sending a request via theMobile Lawyer App 22 on his/her mobile device 24. Once the request tolive-stream video is received at the server 16, an alert notification issent to one or more lawyers licensed in the same jurisdiction as thecurrent location of the user. The alert notification may be in the formof a call, text message, email, and another form of message transmittedto and presented on a computing device 26, such as a mobile phone,tablet computer, and laptop computer that is equipped with a videocamera. The first lawyer who responds first to handle the consultationsession can immediately view the live-streamed video information on acomputing device. One or more different criteria may also be used toselect the responding lawyer. In a preferred embodiment, the lawyerinterfaces with the system 10 via a web browser-based interface. As soonas a lawyer is assigned to handle the consultation session, his/herimage as captured by his/her computing device 26 (transmitted via thecloud 14) along with his/her name is displayed on the dash-mountedmonitor 20 in the user's vehicle. Alternatively, if the user does nothave a dash-mounted display monitor, the lawyer's image is displayed bythe user's mobile device 24. In another alternate embodiment, a stillimage of the selected lawyer stored in the database may be displayed onthe display monitor or mobile device if the lawyer is not able toparticipate via video.

The Mobile Lawyer App 22 has GPS and mapping capabilities, oralternatively has access to these functions of the mobile phone, so thatit may be able to pinpoint the location of the user and relay thisinformation to the server 16 so that this information may be used inselecting lawyers who may respond to the alert notification. When GPS isnot available, location may be determined by triangulation of cellulartowers that are in communication with the user's mobile device.

Referring to FIG. 2, a simplified flowchart of the mobile lawyer systemand method is shown. In blocks 30 and 32, a request from the user isreceived by the mobile device to execute the Mobile Lawyer App. The usermay click a button, use a verbal command, or turn on the 360-degreecamera to initiate the consultation session. The video camera begins tocapture video images inside and outside the vehicle and transmits thecaptured images in real-time to the remote server and database forstorage, as shown in blocks 34 and 36. A determination is made as to thelocation of the user/vehicle, such as the city and state, as shown inblock 38. In response to the location of the user (i.e., jurisdiction),and possibly other criteria (e.g., ranking or rating of lawyers), one ormore lawyers are selected and alerts are transmitted to their respectivecomputing devices, as shown in blocks 40 and 42. One or more responsesare received from the lawyers, and one is selected, as shown in blocks44 and 46. The captured video data is immediately transmitted to thelawyer's associated computing device, as shown in block 48. The lawyer'scomputing device also captures video images of the lawyer and transmitsit to the remote server, which in turn streams it to the display monitorlocated inside the user's vehicle, as shown in block 50. Audio datacaptured of the lawyer are also transmitted to the user via either thedisplay monitor or the user's mobile device, as shown in block 52. Inthis manner, the lawyer has become a third-party observer in a policeencounter.

The following is an exemplary scenario in which the Mobile Lawyer App 22can be used. The user, driving his car, sees that a police squad car isbehind him with its lights flashing. The user pulls the car to the sideof the road, and upon stopping the car completely, immediately clicks onthe Mobile Lawyer App icon displayed on the screen of his mobile phone24 to execute the app. Alternatively, the Mobile Lawyer App 22 can beinitiated by a verbal command or by turning on the 360-degree camera.The user also connects the phone to the 360-degree camera and optionallyto the display screen (via wireless or hard connections). The executionof the Mobile Lawyer App 22 turns on the 360-degree camera 12 and beginslive-streaming video data either directly via the Internet/cellularnetwork or via the mobile device 24. The server 16 also receives therequest from the user and selects one or more licensed lawyers to sendan alert notification. The notification may be done via the attorney'sown mobile phone or computer, in the form of text message, a phone call,or another form of alert. The first lawyer who responds immediately hasaccess to the live-streaming video data. Additionally, the lawyer'simage is also immediately displayed on the dash-mounted monitor 20.Alternatively, the same can be displayed on the screen of the mobilephone. Because the 360-degree camera 12 is mounted and positioned tooptimally capture the actions of the user/driver as well as the policeofficer that steps up to the car and standing by the driver's side door,the remotely-located lawyer can clearly see what is happening. Becauseof the 360-degree nature of the video camera, the actions of anypassenger in the car and activities that occur around the vehicle can beclearly captured. The lawyer's speech can be relayed by a display screenthat has audio speaker capability or through the speakers on the user'smobile phone. The lawyer's image is identified by name and otherinformation that clearly identifies him/her as a licensed attorney forthe jurisdiction in which the user is located. The licensed attorney canhave a 360-degree view of the scene by accessing the live streamed videofrom the video camera. Video data from additional camera angles fromabove and other vehicle-mounted and/or drone-mounted cameras are alsolive-streamed to the lawyer's computing device. The live streamed videois, at the same time, stored in the cloud data storage 18.

By the time the police officer steps up to the driver's side window, thedisplay screen 20 shows the attorney's face and identification, and thevideo camera is capturing and live streaming video data. When the policeofficer first comes into view, the lawyer may choose to introducehim/herself to ensure that the police officer is aware of his/herpresence. During the interaction between the police officer and theuser, the attorney may remain silent and only act as an observer toallow the police officer to do his/her job without obstruction. However,the lawyer may interject if and when the situation demands it, such aswhen the police officer's demand or action is illegal under the laws ofthat jurisdiction. The lawyer may also provide guidance to the user tocooperate with the police officer and serve as a calming influence in ascenario that may be tense for all parties involved.

From the vantage point of the police officer, the presence of the lawyeras a third-party observer may also serve to alleviate concerns he/shemay have about the user/driver and remove some of the tension. Thepolice officer may be assured that the presence of the Mobile Lawyermeans that the user will likely be compliant and not resist hisreasonable demands. Further assurance is that fact that there will be acomprehensive video recording of the incident that can be used to verifyeither party's testimony.

The Mobile Lawyer may use the attorney functionalities provided by theapp such as taking down extemporaneous notes regarding his/herobservation of the activities. The attorney function also includescapturing and storing of the video of the attorney in cloud storage.Additionally, when the action of the police officer is improper andexceeds the limits of legality, the Mobile Lawyer may access a policecomplaint form that may auto-fill certain data fields such as the date,time, and location of the stop, etc. Referring to FIG. 3, the mobilelawyer may request to access a police complaint function, as shown inblock 70. The server accesses the database to obtain data associatedwith the user, as well as data related to the incident, as shown inblock 72. The server also obtains a template police complaint andpre-fills certain data fields with user data and incident data, as shownin blocks 74 and 76. For example, data fields such as user name,driver's license identifier, home address, age, sex, incident date,incident time, and incident location can be pre-filled on the complaintform. The complaint form is then transmitted to the remote mobilelawyer, as shown in block 78, so that it may be completed and submittedto the proper authorities to lodge a complaint.

It is the hope that the Mobile Lawyer technology described herein canprovide a desperately needed calming and tempering presence that can becalled upon whenever a police encounter occurs. Not unlike having alegal adviser along at all times, the Mobile Lawyer can be summoned toserve, observe, and provide legal guidance to the user in tensesituations.

The lawyer selection criteria is primarily jurisdictional due to thelicensing requirements for lawyers. Secondarily, users may rate lawyersand those lawyers with poor rating may receiver fewer or noopportunities to respond to consultation requests.

It should be noted that 360-degree camera described herein can be anycamera that provides a wide field of view or a substantially panoramicfield of view, and can include a single lens or multiple lenses.Multi-lens cameras capture multiple video streams that are stitchedtogether by software. The term 360-degree camera should not beinterpreted herein to strictly include cameras that capture exactly360-degrees field of view. The “360-degree camera” can be stand-alone orbuilt-into the mobile device and/or the vehicle, and can be in onehousing or multiple housings. The output 360-degree video can be theresult of multiple video streams stitched together to form the360-degree view.

It should be noted that it is contemplated herein that thefunctionalities of the video camera and display monitor can be combinedand integrated into one housing, so that one integrated device isdash-mounted with video camera and display capabilities, as well ascommunicating with the remote server, either directly via theInternet/cellular network or through the user's mobile device.

It should be understood that user's profile data, subscriptioninformation, and video data are protected by password and other securitymeasures. Further, the lawyers' profile and credential information arealso protected by password and other security measures. To access thesedata, the users and lawyers must supply the correct login information.It should be noted that the word “video” used herein is used to denotevideo and/or audio.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel areset forth below with particularity in the appended claims. However,modifications, variations, and changes to the exemplary embodimentsdescribed above will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and thesystem and method for Mobile Lawyer described herein thus encompassessuch modifications, variations, and changes and are not limited to thespecific embodiments described herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile lawyer system, the system comprising: aremote server and a remote database; at least one video camera; at leastone display screen; a mobile device executing a mobile application incommunication with the at least one video camera and the at least onedisplay screen, and configured, upon a one-click command from a user ofthe mobile device, to automatically and immediately communicate acurrent location of the mobile device to the remote server, the remoteserver being configured to: automatically search a plurality ofinformation records associated with a plurality of lawyers stored in theremote database; automatically identify at least one lawyer licensed ina jurisdiction that correspond to the current location of the mobiledevice; automatically transmit at least one notification to at least onecomputing device associated with the identified at least one lawyer;receive an acceptance of engagement from a selected one of the at leastone computing device associated with a selected one of the identified atleast one lawyer; and automatically and immediately set up abi-directional video communication session between the selected one ofthe at least one computing device associated with the selected one ofthe at least one lawyer and the mobile device, so that live video dataof the user is automatically transmitted to the selected computingdevice associated with the selected lawyer and live video data of theselected lawyer is automatically transmitted to the at least one displayscreen; automatically and immediately enable the at least one displayscreen to stream live video data of the selected lawyer, and the atleast one video camera capture and stream live video of the user andsurroundings to the computing device for viewing by the selected lawyer;and automatically and immediately enable live video data from the mobiledevice and the selected computing device to be transmitted to the remoteserver and database for secure storage.
 2. The mobile lawyer system ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one video camera is selected from thegroup consisting of: at least one video camera mounted on a drone, atleast one camera native to the mobile device, front and back-facingcameras native to the mobile device, at least one camera integrated andmounted on a vehicle, at least one camera mounted at various points of avehicle, at least one camera with infrared capabilities, and at leastone 360-degree video camera.
 3. The mobile lawyer system of claim 1,wherein the mobile application is configured to: automatically determineincident data comprising at least one of the user name, driver's licenseidentifier, home address, age, sex, incident date, incident time, andincident location of captured video; automatically transmit the incidentdata to the selected computing device associated with the selectedlawyer having the live video communication session with the user; andautomatically transmit the incident data to the remote server anddatabase for secure storage.
 4. The mobile lawyer system of claim 3,further comprising a lawyer app for execution on the computing deviceand configured to provide access by the at least one lawyer to user dataand the incident data.
 5. The mobile lawyer system of claim 4, whereinthe lawyer app is further configured to include a police complaintfunction that automatically pre-fills certain data fields of a policecomplaint with the incident data.
 6. A mobile lawyer method comprising:receiving a live consultation request from a user's mobile device;automatically and immediately initiating capture of images of the userand surroundings, and live-streaming the captured images to a remoteserver for encrypted storage via a computer network in response toreceiving the consultation request; automatically and immediatelydetermining a current location of the mobile device; automatically andimmediately transmitting the current location of the mobile device tothe remote server; automatically receiving live-streaming video data ofan identified remote lawyer licensed to practice law in a jurisdictionassociated with the current location of the mobile device; automaticallylive-streaming captured video images of the user to the at least oneremote lawyer via the remote server; automatically displaying thelive-streaming video data of the identified at least one remote lawyeron a display monitor viewable by the user; and automatically storing thecaptured video data of the user and the at least one remote lawyer in adata storage device accessible by the remote server.
 7. The mobilelawyer method of claim 6, wherein initiating capture of images of theuser and surroundings comprises initiating a capture of video images byat least one video camera selected from the group consisting of: atleast one video camera mounted on a drone, at least one camera native tothe mobile device, front and back-facing cameras native to the mobiledevice, at least one camera integrated and mounted on a vehicle, atleast one camera mounted at various points of a vehicle, at least onecamera with infrared capabilities, and at least one 360-degree videocamera.
 8. The mobile lawyer method of claim 7, further comprisingreceiving remote control input of a flight path and position of thedrone from the remote lawyer.
 9. The mobile lawyer method of claim 6,further comprising receiving remote control input of viewing angledirection for the at least one video camera from the remote lawyer. 10.The mobile lawyer method of claim 6, wherein automatically determining alocation of the user comprises accessing a GPS location of the user anddetermining a street address location from the GPS location.
 11. Themobile lawyer method of claim 6, further comprising automaticallysearching, by the remote server, a database storing data associated witha plurality of lawyers, and automatically identifying at least oneremote lawyer licensed in a jurisdiction that matches the currentlocation of the user.
 12. The mobile lawyer method of claim 11, whereinautomatically identifying at least one remote lawyer comprisesidentifying remote lawyers with an approval rating level consistent witha level set by the user.
 13. The mobile lawyer method of claim 6,further comprising providing secured access by the remote lawyer to userdata and incident data comprising user name, driver's licenseidentifier, home address, age, sex, incident date, incident time, andincident location, stored in the database.
 14. The mobile lawyer methodof claim 13, further comprising automatically pre-filling certain datafields of a police complaint form with data obtained from the database,including user name, driver's license identifier, home address, age,sex, incident date, incident time, and incident location.
 15. A mobilelawyer method comprising: receiving a live consultation input from auser; automatically requesting and receiving a current location of theuser; transmitting the live consultation input and the user's currentlocation to a remote server; receiving information relating to at leastone lawyer licensed to practice law in a jurisdiction consistent withthe user's current location and having current availability; displayinginformation relating to the at least one lawyer on a screen viewable bythe user; receiving an input from the user selecting one lawyer;automatically and immediately initiating capture of images of the userand surroundings, and live-streaming the captured images to the remoteserver for viewing by the selected lawyer and encrypted storage;automatically receiving and displaying a live-streaming video data ofthe selected lawyer on the screen for viewing by the user.
 16. Themobile lawyer method of claim 15, wherein initiating capture of imagesof the user and surroundings comprises initiating a capture of videoimages by at least one video camera selected from the group consistingof: at least one video camera mounted on a drone, at least one cameranative to the mobile device, front and back-facing cameras native to themobile device, at least one camera integrated and mounted on a vehicle,at least one camera mounted at various points of a vehicle, at least onecamera with infrared capabilities, and at least one 360-degree videocamera.
 17. The mobile lawyer method of claim 16, further comprisingreceiving remote control input of a flight path and position of thedrone from the selected lawyer.
 18. The mobile lawyer method of claim16, further comprising receiving remote control input of viewing angledirection for the at least one video camera from the selected lawyer.19. The mobile lawyer method of claim 15, wherein receiving a currentlocation of the user comprises accessing a GPS location of the user anddetermining a street address location from the GPS location.